Kurt W. Prins

Honors and Awards:
University of Minnesota Graduate School Fellowship, 2006-2007
Predoctoral Fellowship from NIH Training Program in Muscle Research, 2007-2008
Gregory Marzolf Muscular Dystrophy Fellowship, 2008-2009

Thesis Advisor:  James Ervasti, PhD., Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics Graduate Program

Thesis Research:

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a lethal muscle-wasting disease affecting approximately 1 in every 3500 males.  DMD results from the loss of dystrophin, a 427 kDa protein localized to the subsarcolemmal space of muscle cells.  Dystrophin functions to link the cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix, thereby providing structural support to muscle cell membranes.  The goal of my thesis research is to investigate how cytoskeletal components interact with dystrophin and how loss of such components affects muscle function,

Publications:

Bunnell TM, Jaeger MA, Fitzsimons DP, Prins KW, Ervasti JM. Destabilization of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex without functional deficits in alpha-dystrobrevin null muscle. PLoS ONE 2008;3:e2604.

Prins KW, Lowe DA, Ervasti JM. Skeletal muscle-specific ablation of gamma(cyto)-actin does not exacerbate the mdx phenotype. PLoS ONE 2008;3:e2419.